Baby Girl
by KTEW
Summary: Flashback-type thing for A Bee's Life. It's the first anniversary of Smellerbee's parents' deaths. And things aren't going well. Smellershot-ish, songfic


It was the anniversary. A year ago today, our families had been killed.

The orphanage was bad. Not as horrible as it was when we first came, but still bad.

I'd promised myself I wouldn't cry. But, hey, it's hard for me now, let alone when I was seven.

So I was lying on my bed, face in a pillow, fighting back tears.

I remembered seeing it on the news, not fully grasping it. I'm not stupid, I knew what death was, just not… how it felt to lose someone. Especially my entire family.

I didn't understand the wreck. I knew the cars crashed, I just didn't understand how the impact could be so bad. How it could kill four people. Four people who meant the world to me.

I still didn't.

I needed to clear my head.

I reached over and felt along the nightstand until my fingers found the old, beat up radio.

I fumbled for the power button, gave up, forced myself to sit upright, still biting back tears, and turned it on.

They were playing Independence Day. I felt like I could relate more to Concrete Angel.

"_Let freedom ring_

"_Let the white dove sing_

"_Let the whole world know that today_

"_Is a day of reckoning_

"_Let the weak be strong_

"_Let the right be wrong_

"_Roll that stone away_

"_Let the guilty pay_

"_It's Independence Day_

"_Well, she lit up the sky that 4__th__ of July_

"_And by the time the firemen came_

"_Well, they put out the flames_

"_And took down some names_

"_And sent me to the county home_

"_Well, I ain't sayin' it's right or it's wrong_

"_But maybe it's the only way_

"_To talk about your revolution_

"_It's Independence Day_

"_Let freedom ring_

"_Let the white dove sing_

"_Let the whole world know that today_

"_Is a day of reckoning_

"_Let the weak be strong_

"_Let the right be wrong_

"_Roll that stone away_

"_Let the guilty pay_

"_It's Independence Day_

"_Roll that stone away_

"_It's Independence Day_"

I sighed. It'd made me feel a bit better. Alright, so not "better", exactly, but it'd gotten my mind off it.

And then the next song came on.

"_They say in this town_

"_The stars stay up all night_

"_Don't know, can't see 'em_

"_For the glow of the neon lights_

"_And it's a long way_

"_From here to the place where the home fires burn_

"_It's two thousand miles and one left turn_"

I'd been biting back tears since the song started, but now I just gave in and started bawling.

But I could still hear the music in the background.

"_Dear Mom and Dad,_

"_Please send money_

"_I'm so broke that it ain't funny_

"_I don't need much, just enough to get me through_

"_Please don't worry, 'cause I'm alright_

"_I'm playin' here at the bar tonight_

"_This time we're gonna make our dreams come true_

"_Well, I love you more than anything in the world_

"_Love your baby girl_"

I heard a knock on my door. I ignored it.

"_Black top, blue sky_

"_Big town full of little white lies_

"_Everybody's your friend_

"_You can never be sure_

The door opened. I could tell who it was by the one step in and dead silence when he saw me.

He didn't say anything, just ran over, sat down next to me, and put his arms around me.

I didn't say anything. Hell, I _couldn't_ say anything, I was crying so hard.

I cried for what seemed like hours. He didn't move away, didn't loosen his grip, didn't say a word. He just held me.

"I miss them," I rasped once I'd calmed down enough to talk.

"Me, too," he whispered.

I gasped. It was the first time he'd said anything since the accident.

"But we'll be okay," he whispered.

"_How_? We're just kids. Without them, what do we have?" Rhetorical question. Everyone knows that was a rhetorical question, right?

"Each other."

I wiggled out of his arms and looked at him. He was looking at me with the smallest smile imaginable, but it was there. Again, for the first time since the accident.

He was right. We'd lost our families, most of our stuff, and, sometimes, _hope_. But we still had each other.

I smiled. Just a bit. "Thanks, Longshot."


End file.
